Lance Lynn Outduels Rookie Luis Castillo

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Luis Castillo had trouble finding the strike zone in the early innings but shoed the Cardinals away from homeplate for the most part.

 “I thought his stuff was really good," Bryan Price said.. "His command wasn’t there for him as much today. Four hits total but they had nine base runners via walks and hit by pitches.  That kind of set the table for them.”

Castillo allowed just three hits but four runs, three earned crossed the plate as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Reds, 4-1.

“We’re talking about a young guy who really looks like a big league pitcher. He is going to vulnerable to the same things other young pitchers are vulnerable to. I’d like to see him bounce back and be more sharp in his next outing,” Price said.

Castillo hit Matt Carpenter to start the game and walked Tommy Pham.  The inning fizzeled for the Cardinals when Paul DeJong hit a hard one hopper to Eugenio Suarez at thirdbase.  Suarez stepped on third and fired to Scooter Gennett for the double play.

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Joey Votto hit his 28th home run of the season off Cardinal starter Lance Lynn with two outs..  Adam Duvall barely missed his 25th home run that hit the top of the fence and stayed in play.  Duvall reached third and watched the replay as the call by secondbase ump Jim Reynolds was confirmed.

Castillo was working on a string of six straight batters retired when he hit Kolten Wong in the helmet.  Wong was examined and remained in the game.  Luke Voit hit for Lynn and singled to left.  Castillo was removed from the game.  Kevin Shackelford took over.

Castillo walked Yadier Molina to open the second but left the mound unharmed.

His luck ran out in the third.  He walked Carpenter to open the frame.  Carpenter was forced at second but DeJong had the first Cardinal hit, his 15h home run into the leftfield stands.

“I left a two-seamer over the plate on the home run.  I made a mistake and he hit it pretty good," Castillo said.

Castillo still ended up with his fourth quality start in nine games.  He pitched eight innings of one-run baseball in his last outing.

 “i didn’t have my best stuff," Castillo said through interpreter Julio Murillo.  "These are days you have to compete and stay longer in the game. Mentally I just 100 percent focus and try to compete.When things aren’t going well my change up is the pitch that I go to. Tonight I was using it one time, two times, three times in a row.”

The Cardinals got their second hit in the fourth but didn’t score.  Castillo walked Carpenter again to open the fifth but Pham hit into a double play.  The sixth was Castillo’s lone 1-2-3 inning.

Linn was with Castillo step-for-step.  He gave up a single to Castillo. Linn issued three walks but retired eight straight between Votto’s intentional pass in the third and Votto’s unintentional freebie in the sixth.

Castillo retired six straight before he hit Kolten Wong in the helmet one out into the seventh.  Wong stayed in the game after he was examined by trainers.  Luke Voit singled through the hole at shortstop batting for Lynn.  Kevin Shackelford relieved Castillo.  The reliever walked Carpenter for the third straight time to load the bases.  Pham hit a sharp ground ball to Suarez’ left.  Suarez made the stop on his knees but his throw home short hopped Devin Mesoraco.  Pham was credited with a hit.  DeJong popped to short.  With Jed Gyorko batting a pitch got away from Mesoraco, who recovered quickly. His throw to Shackelford was not in time.  The call at home stood after a review.  The Cardinals carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

Seung Hwan Oh took over for the Cardinals and pitched a scoreless seventh.  Tyler Lyons struck out the side in the eighth.  Trevor Rosenthal picked up his eighth save in 10 tries.